Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

The peacock is called nanke, and is also called the surpassing bird. When describing innate talent, the latter is often used.

TL: Peacock can be 孔雀 (kongque, which is often used), 南客 (nanke) or 越鸟 (yueniao, surpassing bird). The latter two are rarely used to describe peacocks.

The blood that flowed within Nanke’s body was the true blood of the surpassing bird. This kind of blood was cold to the bone, so cold that passing wind would turn into frost. When compared to the cultivation methods of the sects in the snowy mountain in the north-west, it is unknown how many times the blood is naturally colder by. Other than the blood of the black frost dragons, it is impossible to find a substance that is colder than it. The even more terrifying part of the blood of the surpassing bird is that it is extremely poisonous, so poisonous that even the strongest monsters are unable to resist against it.

The brightly colored blood dripped from Nanke’s wrist onto the sword hilt, and then it fell onto the Wutong Longbow. An ordinary person would have died immediately at the moment before, however, Xu Yourong did not. She was not frozen by Nanke’s blood, and also did not become poisoned by the toxins within the blood. This was because she was the reincarnation of a Heavenly Phoenix, and inside her body flowed the true blood of the Heavenly Phoenix. Her blood carried inexhaustible heat, able to burn everything.

The battle on the peak of Sunset Valley reached the final part, and Xu Yourong and Nanke finally began their contest of innate talent. In the previous clashes, they had already proven that no matter if it was the level of cultivation, the strength of willpower and spiritual sense or the aspect of sword and shooting techniques, their abilities were almost completely equal. Now, they could only look at whose blood would burn the world or freeze the world.

In the land of demons, in the world of humans and in the White Emperor City by the shores of the Red River, there were countless legends that the phoenix was the king of all birds. Logically, Xu Yourong almost would definitely be the final victor in this contest in innate talent. However, it could not be forgotten that in the countless legends, there was always the peacock that looked at the world of birds with a cold and proud gaze. That peacock never obeyed the orders of the phoenix.

If the phoenix really could be victorious over the phoenix so easily, how could the peacock disobey it and have its own cold pride and freedom? This explained a very simple truth, which was that between the peacock and the phoenix, the biggest difference was their temperament and the different choices they had made in the world. As for the strength of their bloodline, it was actually extremely close.

Xu Yourong and Nanke’s blood continued to flow, smearing all over the sword hilt, blade, and bow and discoloring them. Afterwards, it fell on the surface of the peak between the two, and those tough rocks also began to burn swiftly.

The entire peak of Sunset Valley began to burn. No matter if it was the bright, golden holy fire, or the mottled, dark, icy-cold fire; they were all true flames, as if they were even able to burn the spirit.

The two incredibly powerful Qi rapidly increased with the clash between the two noble yet proud bloodlines. The space created by the zither-playing old man could no longer withstand it, and with countless sounds of shattering, it transformed into countless pieces of clear glass, before disappearing into the night sky.

A wave of light rushed out in all directions from between Xu Yourong and Nanke’s bodies, immediately illuminating a radius of several hundreds of li, and lighting the Sunset Valley mountain range like daytime. The wide grassland in front of the mountain range suddenly brightened up, especially in the outer borders. Those weeds also seemed to begin burning, and those cold, broken terrifying sounds in the depths of the grassland also immediately disappeared. Countless great monsters hidden within it felt that the wave of light that originated from the peak carried two incomparably noble and powerful auras, deterring them from daring to perform any reckless actions.

“It really is impressive,” Liu Wan’er said with great surprise, looking in the direction of the Sunset Valley.

The demon general couple were outside the grasslands to prevent Zhexiu and Qi Jian from escaping. After eating dinner, they were currently washing the dishes. However, they never thought that on a mountain peak far away, such a terrifying battle was currently happening.

Teng Xiaoming put the bowl into the basket, and asked, “Should we go help out?”

With the strength of his spiritual sense, he could clearly feel exactly how intense the battle on the peak of Sunset Valley was. That golden flame that originated from the true blood of the Heavenly Phoenix was just too bright.

“We won’t make it.” Liu Wan’er shook her head. “Also, Her Highness does not like it when we make unnecessary moves. Since the Military Advisor has already said that Xu Yourong will die, she will definitely die.”

With the breaking of the space that separated the peak of Sunset Valley and that lonely mountain path from the world of the Garden of Zhou, the Black Dragon which flew extremely high in the air was able to see what was below for the first time. Only with this did she know that Xu Yourong had already left, and this fated battle had already begun.

At this moment, many people in the Garden of Zhou had already noticed the battle on the peak of Sunset Valley. Although they could not see the details and did not know who was battling whom, the wild flames on the peak and the terrifyingly powerful auras that originated vaguely from the flames were enough to disturb and shock them.

However, the Black Dragon was unperturbed. She looked down on the two girls between the mountain range, and the gaze from her pupil was very cold and indifferent, or even vaguely scornful. If she was not a spiritual soul at that moment, and instead in her real body, it would not matter that the battle between the two girls was so intense and lively. A casual dragon breath from her could probably put out all of the flames.

“A small, small world with two small birds playing with fire. Ants praise how great their countries are and discuss how easy it is to shake a big tree.”

She laughed at them with these words, but in the next moment, she discovered that the aura that flowed from the burning blood and flames on the peak of the Sunset Valley actually gave her pause… as it turned out, those two girls were not normal small birds. If they had fully awakened their bloodline, they would actually be on the same level as her.

On the peak of Sunset Valley, the two noble but completely different bloods mixed together. Two flames that varied between light and dark also mixed together. This was the so-called blend of blood and flames. Beyond the layers of flames and above the light of the sword and bow, Xu Yourong and Nanke’s eyes met. They were faintly linked mentally.

In that moment, Xu Yourong saw many images: the images of inside Xuelao City, the images inside the demon’s palace and the images of the growth of the pigweed-harvesting girl.

Conversely, the images Nanke saw were very few. She only saw the small stone bridge in the Divine General of the East’s estate, the catkin beneath the bridge and the school yard of the Thirteen Divisions of Radiant Green.

Nanke did not cover up anything. She was cold and proud, not scared of anyone, even if an opponent like Xu Yourong saw her true inner self. For some reason, intentional or not, Xu Yourong, who should have led a brighter life, concealed in her consciousness many of the scenes from her years of cultivation..

“The phoenix indeed is a hypocritical organism. You actually lived in such a petty way and still want to become the ruler that sits on the decaying throne? Why don’t you just go die instead?”

Nanke looked into her eyes, and spoke coldly in the world of consciousness formed from the connection.

Xu Yourong did not follow up, and asked calmly, “You want to perish with me?”

Nanke replied with an indifferent expression, “I am not afraid of death. You are afraid of death. So if we perish together, the one who dies first will definitely be you.”

Xu Yourong arched her brow slightly. She disliked this method of battle, and also disliked the way Nanke spoke. She believed that life and death were things worthy of respect, and should not have been spoken of so lightly.

Nanke stared at her. “You humans always believe that rubbish: great power comes with great responsibility. Since it’s like that, you don’t want to die, because you still carry a lot of responsibilities on your shoulders.”

Xu Yourong asked levelly, “What about you? As a Demon Princess, don’t you also need to carry a lot of responsibilities?”

Nanke replied indifferently again, “I have several dozen siblings. The responsibilities I carry are extremely few, other than my own aspirations and my master’s hope.”

Xu Yourong stayed silent for a while, before saying, “Does your father know about this? If you die today in the Garden of Zhou, won’t something occur between your master and your father?”

In this simple conversation, life, death, and responsibilities were discussed. However, no principles were discussed, as they each only wanted to let their opponent know why they did not fear death, and the reasons why the opponent should have feared death.

The conversation occurred in the linked world of consciousness, and the attacks were also spiritual.

It was very obvious that what Xu Yourong had said after thinking did not achieve any of her imagined results. Nanke’s expression remained indifferent, and she did not care about her own life and death or the future of the demons at all.

“My race needs a strong succeeding generation and the glory of victory. As long as I can kill you, it will prove that the blood of my race is the most noble. How can Father be sad or disappointed? He will only compose a few long poems happily in front of my gravestone.”

Saying that, Nanke took a step forwards. Her indifferent gaze was full of determination, and between the hands holding the sword hilt, the rate of blood flow suddenly increased.

With her step forwards, a crack appeared on the mountain several hundred zhang away. A boulder with a circumference of several zhang fell into the deep abyss.

The Southern Cross Sword grew even brighter. One was in front of her, like a true galaxy, and one was behind her, like a peacock spreading its tail, blocking the arrows flying in from all directions.

The cold yet bright blood transformed into numerous flames, burning violently on the cliff. Her expression was still just as indifferent, as if she could not feel pain, nor fear death.

She looked into Xu Yourong’s eyes, and finally said in the world of consciousness, “You are indeed very strong. In order to kill you, of course I have to bleed so much.”

Xu Yourong’s expression remained calm, with not even a sliver of weariness to be seen. However, after two days and two nights without sleep, rushing around in the wild to use her Sacred Light to save people, she was actually already very tired.

How could she win against the crazed Nanke?

Only through blood for blood.

A slight thought set fresh blood flowing from her palm that grasped the longbow, like water from a spring. The holy, golden flames burned fiercely, allowing the freezing peak to warm up again.

That holy and powerful aura was rapidly released from within her body.

The two powerful auras clashed, rushing into the night sky above Sunset Valley.

Only a soft pop could be heard from somewhere far away. In the depths of the night, there was a surface that seemed to be transparent. Suddenly, a crack appeared, and afterwards, a shooting star descended.

This was the Garden of Zhou, so the shooting star could not have been a real meteor, but it was not a Wu Arrow either. That meteor landed somewhere to the side of Sunset Valley, and only a huge bang could be heard. The entire mountain range began to shake, and a mountain on the side of the mountain range completely collapsed.

Xu Yourong and Nanke looked at each other, and ignored it.

Their fresh blood constantly flowed, and their aura constantly increased.

More and more sounds of shattering reverberated in the night sky, creating more and more meteors, falling towards Sunset Valley.